Natsu is Gone
by Ririn1718
Summary: After Team Natsu goes on a strange job request, Natsu suddenly disappears without a trace...nobody knows where he is, and he leaves not a clue. A week after he vanishes, Natsu returns...but something is not right. Something has gone wrong.


" _I'm all fired up!"_ _Natsu cried, spouting flames from his mouth as he punched his left palm with his right hand._

" _Jeez, calm down would ya, squinty eyes." Gray muttered, to which Natsu rushed in and banged his forehead against the ice mage's._

 _"_ _Wud'ya just say?! Stripper!"_

 _"_ _Ya heard me, Flame Brain!"_

 _The two growled at each other, glaring and crying out insults like there was no tomorrow._

 _"_ _You guys! Stop it! We're on a job to a wealthy powerful owner of a company! Quiet yourselves down!" Erza barked, to which the two boys froze and composed themselves in fear. Sporting her usual attire, Erza was as frightening as always._

 _"_ _You guys can't stop fighting, can you…" Lucy sighed, shaking her head. Thankfully, she wore a more conservative outfit today, as their client was of high status._

 _"_ _One's an ice mage and the other is fire, I guess they wouldn't get along at all…" Wendy smiled, looking at the two mages. As Carla wasn't feeling well today, she wasn't by Wendy's side, making her look rather lonely. And, at Natsu's side Happy was missing, hanging back to care for Carla._

 _As the group continued on their usual noisy journey, the mansion that was their destination came into view, and the group stood in awe at the size of it before continuing. A plot of land fit for a lord, the main house sat proudly upon sheets of soft, green grass, with long, paved walkways and bunches of roses and tulips lining the entryway._

 _"_ _He really is rich huh…"Lucy commented, taking in the sight of the extravagant house with its huge garden. It could probably compete with her old Heartifilia Property._

 _"_ _It doesn't look as big as your old house though, Lucy." Natsu said, to which Lucy chuckled._

 _"_ _I suppose, but it's still plenty big." The thought of her old house brought memories back, as she remembered the days she spent with her mother and father, and her promise to buy it back in the future. Then again, she remembered how Dan Straight and co. had wrecked her house a while before, along with the recklessness of Natsu, drawing a tired, wary sigh from her._

 _Ahead, the door to the entrance opened, in a rather slow speed, and from within a man seeming to be a butler stepped out. A rather old man, wrinkles lined his forehead and a gray mustache sat above his mouth, his eyes dull._

 _"_ _Hello, mages of Fairy Tail. I take it you are here for the job?" he asks, in a mellow, yet monotonous voice._

 _"_ _Yes, we are here for Mister Jacob Lavon Gionavvi's job request." Erza replied, to which the butler nodded and stepped aside. "Very well, please come in." Struggling, Erza managed to tow her luggage inside, and the rest of the group stepped inside the mansion._

 _"_ _Hm? It seems to be a bit dark in here. Are the lights not on?" Erza questioned. Indeed, it was a few shades darker inside._

 _"_ _It is a little dark in here yeah…." Gray murmured, looking around. The mansion was, as expected, very extravagant, gold linings on the walls and fine carpet laid on the floor, but for some reason the lights were dim and gave off little light, which made the interior of the mansion look rather dark and ominous._

 _"_ _Please pardon this, the lighting is not working well. It seems as if the electricity is not distributing properly…" the butler explains, looking up at the chandelier hanging above them. In fact, multiple chandeliers were on the ceiling, so many to the point it looked ridiculous and unorderly, plain excessive._

 _"_ _Wow…" Wendy whispers, unable to believe the sheer amount of chandeliers up there._

 _"_ _Amazing—"Natsu cries, staring up at the ceiling, "That's unbelievable!"_

 _"_ _Now, Mister Gionavvi is waiting for you here, please follow me." The butler indicated to a hallway to his left, and the group starts walking, the sound of armor and shoes echoing through the huge, yet empty-looking house._

 _"_ _Neh…" Lucy starts, "doesn't it seem to be getting darker and darker?"_

 _"_ _Now that you mention it…" Erza murmurs._

 _"_ _We are sorry for this, as the lighting isn't working properly…" the butler says, walking on ahead. More and more, they are shrouded in darkness, and the paintings hanging on the walls are but dark stains with subtle edges._

 _Suddenly, a sound startle them._

 _'_ _Wha—mnnnnn….'_

 _"_ _Eek!" Lucy shrieks, whipping her head side to side._

 _"_ _What was that?" Erza asks, the sound of her armor shifting. "It sounded…."_

 _"…_ _Sounded like…a person..?" Gray's voice sounds out, apprehensive. He bumps into someone, to which he says sorry, but they do not answer._

 _"_ _S-scary…." Wendy whispers, panicking. She feels around for Carla to hold on to, but, remembering she is not here with her, grips her own hand._

 _"_ _Wait…what is this…" Gray bumps into someone again, and when he bumps into them yet again, something grabs onto him. "WHA—"he yanks himself away, stumbling and falling onto the floor. "Wha—what was that?!"_

 _"_ _Wait, what's happening?" Lucy asks, panic in her voice. "Gray? What's happening?"_

 _"_ _S-something grabbed onto me, but it's so dark I don't know what it is." The sound of fumbling and stumbling continues, and eventually settles, the sound of panicked breathing still present._

 _"_ _Is everything all right?" the butler asks, the sound of his footsteps up ahead. It seems he has not noticed any abnormal activity, and has proceeded on._

 _"_ _Ah, hai…" Erza answers. "Gray, everything all right?"_

 _"_ _Ah, yeah, it's all right…." He gulps, shaking himself out. "Let's go." The group soon walks into a clearing, and they follow the butler to the door of a room with light seeping out from under the door._

 _"_ _This is where Mister Gionavvi is, please step inside." The butler says, the small light highlighting his face in a rather ominous way. Erza nods and opens the door, to which a sudden flood of light overwhelms the group as they step inside, forcing their eyes to adjust. Mister Gionavvi laughs deeply and heartily, seeing the group struggle because of the light._

 _He is seated on a couch in the middle of the room, a table in front of him with tea and cake, another couch on the other side of the table._

 _"_ _Please, take a seat." He says, pushing cups of tea to the other side. He has dark green eyes, , wrinkles forming at the edges, and when he smiles they crinkle in a friendly way. His nose is rather long, stubby at the end, his lips thin and dry, a slight hair growth on his chin, his hair thin and combed back. He has a pair of glasses on his nose, pulled down, small ears holding them up. A fine suit covered his lanky body._

 _"_ _If we may," Erza says, and the group sits down. "Well, we have come for the job request. It is of a nuisance on your property, is it?" Mister Gionavvi, with a smile on his face, nods and pulls out an envelope. He slides it over to Erza, who opens it to see the sum of money offered on the job request._

 _"_ _That is the money for the job." He says, leaning back. "I am sorry to say this, but you mages have travelled here for a problem that has been resolved already, and I am very sorry for that." He says, to which the group blinks. "You see, we had a problem with some mages that lingered on my property, and a couple days ago they were captured, quite by accident. I felt bad to tell you mages to go home right after arriving, so I thought I would treat you mages to something as compensation." He smiled, taking off his glasses and wiping them off._

 _"_ _O-oh, why, thank you then." Erza says, eyeing the cake that was on the table. Before them was an assortment of sweets and tea, nicely plated and clearly appetizing._

 _'_ _Oh, Erza…. 'They think._

 _"_ _Hey, something seems a bit off…" Lucy says, thinking. "In this situation, something would happen…"_

 _"_ _Now that I think of it…" Wendy says, blinking. "What was it? Or rather, it's more like someone…"_

 _"_ _Someone…." Gray murmurs, closing his eyes. "Right, someone, when something like this happens, would do something…."_

 _"_ _Someone…when others give us food…." Erza mutters._

 _Food._

 _Something clicked in their brains._

 _""""_ _Natsu!"""" they cried simultaneously, a look of enlightenment in their eyes._

 _"_ _Natsu would go 'Food! Let me dig in!'" Lucy said, looking around. "Natsu…where is he? He's missing!"_

 _"_ _Now that I think of it, I haven't heard him talk for a while…" Erza mutters, fingers raised to her chin._

 _"_ _Where did Natsu-san go?" Wendy asked, concerned, "When did he disappear?" The group was peering around the room, looking under the table, but Natsu was nowhere in sight._

 _"_ _Darn, that troublemaking squinty-eyed bastard!" Gray muttered, glaring at nothing, "I bet he's gonna make a ruckus around this mansion and destroy everything!" Mister Gionavvi sips some tea, taking in the aroma of it, he slightly opens his eyes, looking at the group._

 _"_ _My, don't be that tense… I bet that pink-haired fire mage won't cause much trouble. He may just be roaming around, looking at my mansion. Now, why don't I send for a servant of mine to go fetch him?" clapping his hands, the same butler that led the group here appeared through the door._

 _"_ _Yes, Mister Gionavvi?" he says, his eyes still in that mellow, dull daze._

 _"_ _Look around for that pink-haired fire mage, will you? He seems to have gone missing." He winks, and the butler nods, replying with a short "I will go search" and exits the room._

 _"_ _Now, let us eat, shall we?" the wealthy man smiles, silencing any objections they might have. The smell of tea swirls around in their minds, fogging them, and with reluctance they drank, worried still about Natsu. However, after conversing with the man for a while, they eventually forget about the missing fire mage, as if the scent of tea clogged up their minds and made them forget._

 _The sky is a deep orange when the group exits the mansion, clouds sparse and scarce, the dye of red not yet tinting the sky. The mansion, towering over the group, sees them off._

 _"_ _In the end, Natsu was gone the whole time…" Lucy sighs, stretching out her arms. "The air inside the mansion was really bad, don't you think?" Erza nods, taking a deep breath of the outside air._

 _"_ _It was rather stuffy, probably something to do with the electricity that went wrong." She adjusts her armor and swords, making sure her belongings are strapped on tight. "But really, where did Natsu go?" the sun was setting, and night was coming, if they didn't get a move on soon they would miss the train they were scheduled to be on. But Natsu was missing._

 _"_ _Natsu-san!" Wendy called, her voice echoing through the garden, but there was no reply. "Might Natsu-san still be in the mansion?"_

 _"_ _Might be, but we didn't even hear a sound!" Gray answered, "If that weirdo was in there he would've caused some destruction of some sort…And now that I think about it, that butler never came back did he? The one who went to look for Natsu."_

 _"_ _Now that you mention it…" Erza murmurs, thinking hard. "That is a bit strange…" suspicion slowly crept into her mind._

 _"_ _And, didn't Natsu go missing before we entered the room? Where would he go if he didn't follow us?" Lucy asked. "Maybe he went home?"_

 _"_ _It could be, since Happy stayed to tend to Carla…" Wendy said, "Maybe he felt weird because Happy wasn't by his side?"_

 _"_ _Those two are close…" Erza muttered, "No, we have no time to think about this. We can only believe Natsu went off on his own somewhere. Surely he can get home by himself. Nothing happened on this job request, so it would be safe to assume he isn't messed up in some trouble. Besides, Master said he had something important to discuss with us, and told us to return quickly. When Natsu shows up later we can fill him in." Seeing as it was getting late, the group decided to leave, taking the train back to Magnolia._

 _However, Natsu never went back to the guild._


End file.
